After you’ve decided which business metrics you want to monitor, it’s easy to use AppFirst to export the data from your application and then correlate it with all of the other server and application data collected. Over time, AppFirst learns what is normal for your business metrics and can alert you when they go over the historical normal thresholds (defined as one standard deviation).

AppFirst is a free add-on for all Engine Yard Cloud customers and comes with two-week data retention. Longer term data retention is available for an additional fee. See the AppFirst add-on in Engine Yard Cloud for details of the available plans.

When SSO is in place: Your AppFirst account will be created using your Engine Yard account and password.

If you select one of the paid plans, the AppFirst charge appears on your Engine Yard Cloud account bill. You do not get a separate bill from AppFirst.

To configure your environment and application for AppFirst monitoring

Review the add-on details page to learn more about the AppFirst service.

Click the Set it up tab.

Click to get started.

This opens a new tab/window and takes you to the AppFirst website.

Note: In the near future, single sign-on (SSO) will eliminate the move from the Engine Yard UI, to the AppFirst UI, and back (that is, the next 3 steps). Until SSO is in place, remember that you need to return to Engine Yard Cloud to complete the configuration.

On the AppFirst Sign Up page, type your email address and password. (Use the same as with Engine Yard Cloud.)

Click Get Started For Free to accept the terms and conditions.

This sets up your AppFirst login and returns you to the Engine Yard website.

On the AppFirst Set it up page, select the environment you want to extend with AppFirst monitoring.

Click to enable the AppFirst add-on service for the selected environment.

A message appears indicating that AppFirst is activated on the environment.

Click on the environment name link to go to your application environment in Engine Yard Cloud.

To verify the AppFirst add-on

Note: It can take up to 10 minutes for your servers to appear in AppFirst.

View AppFirst metrics for your application

You can access your AppFirst account directly (as described below) or from within Engine Yard Cloud (as described in Verify AppFirst configuration) to view monitoring details about your application and its servers.